The truth about the Filipino broadcast journalists.

Today, I would like to introduce the three award-winning Filipino broadcast journalists who have been making waves in the international stage for quite some time.

I took up BS Development Communication with Broadcasting as Major at a prestigious State University in my home country. For the longest time, I was in awe..well, more of star-strucked whenever I watched the news. I remember channel surfing from one news channel after another just to get a glimpse of my favorite anchors. The fascination never waned although I pursued a slightly different career path.

Yesterday, I was reading the latest edition of TIME magazine and in the Inbox Section (where they share comments from readers), one particular letter sender pointed out that the recently published TIME 100 issue should have included as well the media personalities that covered the events that helped shaped the world. I had my ‘aha’ moment and decided to talk about it in this blog.

The top personality on my list is Rico Hizon of BBC. This guy had come a long way and started his career in GMA 7 (one of the top 2 local channels in the country today). He then moved to CNBC and later on to BBC where he currently anchors the Business News of Asia Business Report & World Business Report based in Singapore. His gentle demeanor, smiling face and matter-of-fact news reporting are quite endearing to the viewers. I learned as well that he’s one of the 'evangelists' of Philippine arts in the Lion City. Way to go!’

Photo courtesy of inquirer.net

Next on my list is Elaine Quijano of CNN. A graduate of University of Illinois and is CNN’s correspondent to the White House. She covers the most powerful head of state and his administration domestically and internationally. Her deep knowledge on state affairs really comes out whenever she’s on air.

Photo courtesy of reportercaps.com

Lastly, there’s Veronica Pedrosa of Al Jazeera. She’s the principal news anchor based in Kuala Lumpur (one of the four international hubs of this growing news network). I witnessed her move from CNN to her current station. Like Rico Hizon, she started her career in the local channel QABS-CBN (one of the top 2). She’s difficult to miss when she’s on air because her conviction and the way she delivers the news are very much apparent on screen.

Photo courtesy of daylife.com

There are so much more talented broadcast journalists in the Philippines who are highly credible and values integrity above all else in bringing the news to the public. I hope that some of them will follow the footsteps of these three and make the country proud.

-r-